Ponies Have No Boundaries
by Brodemus
Summary: Urahara sends Ichigo and his friends on an information gathering mission. He doesn't give them any details except that they don't need to worry about Hollows. What does he have in mind? And what do ponies have to do with it?
1. Look What Happened In Equestria

I do not own Bleach or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

**Chapter 1:** **Look What Happened…in Equestria**

"Alright, we're here. What did you have in mind for us, Hat-n-Clogs?" Ichigo asked.

Urahara turned to face the group he had called. His green and white striped hat concealed his dirty blonde hair and grey eyes. The kimono he wore looked like a captain's of the Soul Society, but with inverted colors (black with white diamonds lining the bottom, instead of white with black diamonds).

The wooden sandals he wore clopped as he faced the orange, spike-haired boy. "I've already told you, I want you to investigate something for me."

Ichigo crossed his arms. "You're not being very specific. Quit beating around the bush and tell us what's going on."

Rukia closed her cold, violet eyes and shook her head so her fine black hair swayed slightly; her school uniform looked out of place in the dusty environment of Urahara's "secret" training room beneath his shop. "Ichigo has a point, Kisuke. You haven't told us anything about why you called us here."

"What is it you want us to investigate exactly?" Uryu interjected.

The artificial light of the room allowed his indigo eyes to be visible behind his glasses. His medium length, raven colored hair draped around his face, giving him a sense of seriousness, despite his ridiculous, pure white costume he wore for missions.

The shop keep raised his hand to the top of his head and laughed. "Well, that's because I don't really have much details."

Ichigo brought his hand to his face; Rukia sighed; Uryu's face dropped dramatically; Chad stood motionless; and Orihime still had a blank and clueless expression.

Chad stood tall over his friends by at least two feet. His purple-magenta shirt hugged his torso tightly and his jeans did the same to his legs; his dark brown hair fell over his eyes (it wouldn't have mattered if they could see them; he wore the same expression throughout the entire meeting).

"Don't you think it's dangerous to go somewhere blindly?" His deep voice boomed.

Orihime jumped at the sound of his voice, causing her rather large chest to bounce slightly, and looked at the giant man before turning sharply so her long, fine, orange hair flowed. "Chad's right, Mr. Urahara."

Urahara raised both of his hands in front of him. "Now, who said you were going blindly?"

"Then why don't you tell us what you know?" Uryu yelled.

"Because, I think it'll be better to gather first-hand information instead of observing from a distance. Besides…." The former captain stopped before finishing his sentence.

Ichigo's anger had risen through the entire conversation. "'Besides' what?" He growled.

Urahara pulled his fan out of his sleeve, opened it, and hid his face. "I think it'll be better if you find out for yourselves. Now, a few thing before you leave."

Orihime and Rukia fought to hold Ichigo from attacking Urahara.

"I've altered the Senkaimon to take you to somewhere else, other than the Soul Society. I can open it every seven days, so if you take longer than one week you don't have to worry, it'll open again seven days later. I'll keep doing this until you get back, so stay as long as you like." The scientist went on.

Ichigo calmed down with a sigh. "Alright."

He went to grab his Substitute Soul Reaper badge, but Urahara stopped him.

"There's no need for that. You won't need your Soul Reaper powers for this mission."

"But, what if we are attacked by a Hollow?" Ichigo protested.

Urahara smiled. "That's the thing; it appears Hollows aren't a problem where I'm sending you."

All five of the students exchanged confused looks.

"How can that be?" Rukia asked.

"I don't know for certain, but my guess is that the unive-I mean location doesn't exactly follow our worlds' rules. But you'll find out soon enough." Urahara smiled. "Okay, we're ready to begin. Tessai, could you help me?"

A large man wearing a smock and dark glasses appeared behind the group.

"Right, boss." His mouth wasn't actually visible beneath his mustache.

The two approached the Senkaimon and activated it by placing their hands on it and pushing their soul pressure into it.

"Remember; take as long as you want. I'll open the gate again every seven days." Urahara reminded the group.

The gate glowed white and the five ran into it.

Once everyone was through the opening, Urahara and Tessai backed away.

"You've been very secretive about this, Kisuke." Tessai asked.

"Hang on a minute, Tessai." Urahara raised a hand. "I have a call to make."

He put one hand on the Senkaimon. Static erupted out of the gate until it gave way to a feminine voice, but no image showed on the portal.

"Kisuke? Is that you?" The static-laced voice asked.

"Yes it is your majesty." Urahara answered. "I just wanted to tell you they're on their way."

The voice took on a somewhat excited tone. "Oh, I'm so excited to meet them. I'll send for somepony to pick them up immediately."

The former captain chuckled. "No need for that, Princess. I want them to learn on their own."

"Alright, Kisuke," she sounded slightly disappointed now, "I'll trust your judgment on this."

"Thank you, Princess. I can't wait to hear from you again." Urahara removed his hand from the Senkaimon.

"Where exactly did you send them?" Tessai asked.

"I've sent them to a place where Hollows, humans, and Soul Reapers don't exist; a place of happiness; a place where friendship," he paused and grinned widely behind his fan, "is magic

...

"I have a bad feeling about this." Uryu yelled, he was the last one into the gate, tailing shortly behind Orihime, though he couldn't tell where she was at the time as inside the gate was blindingly bright.

All of them were running despite Urahara having said to take as long as they like.

"Kisuke said we shouldn't have to worry about Hollows, but I feel the same way." Rukia answered from next to Ichigo, the two were leading the group.

Their footsteps began to fade and what sounded like hooves on concrete echoed around them.

"I can't see anything." Ichigo complained. "How do we know when we're there?"

"How should any of us know? We're in the same position as you, Ichigo!" Uryu retorted.

"I know that! But still-" Ichigo was cut off by Orihime.

"I think we're getting close to the end. The light's getting brighter!"

Sure enough, the light grew, then dissipated, and gave way to reveal a lush landscape…and a long fall into a pond.

"Not this again!" Ichigo had time to yell before plummeting into the water, followed quickly by his friends.

...

Ichigo was the first out of the pond. He coughed up water and collapsed onto the ground. "Is *cough* is everyone alright?"

Rukia and Uryu were the next to drag to shore and fell the same way Ichigo had.

"I'm fine." Rukia answered.

"I'm soaked." Uryu complained.

Ichigo frowned. "I'm sure a little water won't kill you."

Orihime was barely on land before she fell on her stomach. "I'm okay, just a little woozy."

"How about you, Chad?" Ichigo pulled his head up to find his friends, but the beings he saw weren't his friends; at least, not what they use to look like.

He saw three horse-like creatures panting and hacking up water on the grass.

"What the hell?" Ichigo whispered.

One of the horses, barely out of the water, had a light-peach colored coat and a fine, bright orange mane and tail, both of which were incredibly long. Another thing Ichigo noticed were the overlapping pair of what looked like Orihime's blue, butterfly hair clips on the creature's flank.

Ichigo turned his head to find two more equines, both white, but their mane and hair color and style, and their markings were different. One was clearly more feminine than the other, as she was smaller and had a more round face. Her round, black mane barely flowed to the back of her head, her tail was slightly longer but retained the same circular look, and her mark was a pitch-black butterfly with snowflakes surrounding it. The other's mane and tail were a shiny black, he had glasses on, and his mark was a ball of yarn that tied to what looked like a Quincy cross.

"Wait a minute," Ichigo mumbled, "that looks like…Uryu?"

"What?" The horse with the glasses responded.

Ichigo's face went slack.

Orihime finally pulled herself further onto the bank and opened her eyes. She saw a light-tan horse with a short, spiky, orange mane and tail pushed up onto his (he just appeared masculine with a flat face) "elbows." The strawberry on his flank showed bright against his tan coat. "I-Ichigo?"

"What is it?" He turned to look her in the eyes.

Orihime gasped loudly. "You're so cute!" She squealed.

Ichigo felt his face turn red. "W-what do you mean?"

"Clearly , Orihime hit her head." Rukia joked.

"Rukia," Orihime turned to the white horse, "Oh my gosh, you're adorable."

Rukia sighed as she pushed herself back onto her feet, uh, hooves. "Well, I guess she CAN still think straight. She must've just had a lapse in judgment when she saw you."

"Oh, shut up." Ichigo grunted as he stood as well.

"Did I change, too?" Orihime quickly turned back to the pond. Her reflection pushed her excitement over the edge "Oh my gosh! I changed, too!"

Ichigo raised a hoof to point at Rukia and Uryu, "Why do you two have horns, but Orihime doesn't?"

The peach colored horse was bouncing around and squealing.

"We have horns?" The two white unicorns shouted in unison and raised a hoof to find the new extremity.

"Well, it seems you have wings and none of us do." Uryu pointed at Ichigo's sides.

Ichigo turned his head to, sure enough, find a wing on each side. He focused and stretched them out. "You have to be kidding me. So, we have two unicorns, a regular horse, and I'm a, uh-" He stopped because he couldn't think of what he was.

"I guess that'd make you a pegasus." Uryu interjected.

Rukia suddenly looked very panicked. "Wait, there're only four of us here. Where's Chad?"

Orihime stopped bouncing as the group took on the same worried attitude as Rukia.

"There he is!" Orihime pointed to the other side of the pond.

The four raced along the water's edge to find a large, brown horse sitting in the grass. His dark brown mane covered his eyes, his marking looked like some sort of coin, and he didn't appear to have a tail at all.

"Chad! Is that you?" Orihime shouted as the got closer.

The large horse turned to face the four equines galloping toward him. "It happened to you guys, too?"

Ichigo sighed. "Yeah, but at least we're all together, again. Now, to figure out what happened and where the hell we are."

Chad's expression didn't change as he spoke. "You have wings."

"What? Oh, yeah."

"And you guys have horns."

Rukia sighed. "We already covered this; Uryu and I are unicorns, Ichigo's a pegasus, and Orihime is, um, normal. It looks like you two are the same type, actually."

Chad nodded his large head.

Uryu brought a hoof to his chin. "Okay, now that we're all on the same page, we can-"

"Everything is so much brighter here!" Orihime interrupted.

The others hadn't noticed before, but the colors around them did seem far more vibrant than their home world.

"She's right." Chad added.

As they looked around the meadow, Rukia spotted another pegasus flying overhead.

"Look! There's someone else here."

They all watched the figure fly directly above them. A smaller object appeared and fell towards them, followed quickly by the new pegasus.

"Did it drop something?" Uryu asked.

"I don't know, but that thing's coming in fast! Everyone, down!" Ichigo ducked, as did the rest of the group.

"Muffin. Muffin! MUFFIN!" A grey and yellow flash caught the small object and pulled up at the last possible moment before crashing. The pegasus began flying casually again in the same direction it had been flying earlier.

"That was close," Rukia pushed herself back onto her feet. "Is everyone alright?"

A general sound of reassurance resounded from the others.

"What the hell was that?" Ichigo shouted.

Uryu pushed his glasses further up his nose with a hoof. "It looked like another pegasus, like you, Ichigo, but with a different colorization. And it looks like it's heading for a town." He pointed in the same direction as the pegasus was flying, and off in the distance buildings could be seen.

"Well," Orihime started cheerily, "let's go there."

Rukia turned to her friend. "We can't just walk into a town. We don't know if the residents are hostile or not, we did almost just get dive bombed after all."

The orange-maned mare smiled at Rukia. "No we didn't. The other pony was just chasing its muffin. Didn't you hear?"

Everyone else looked at Orihime, confused looks plastered on each of their faces.

"Alright, I have an idea." Uryu pushed his glasses up again. "Ichigo, you fly ahead of us. Seeing how fast the other one was going, you should be able to reach the town ahead of us and see if the rest of the populace is hostile."

Ichigo glared at his friend. "Yeah, but I've never had to use wings to fly before. I don't know how to use these exactly." He flexed his new extremities to further his point.

The white colt shook his head. "All you have to know his flap your wings in unison in a motion that'll propel you forward."

"Fine. Let me try it first." The orange-maned colt grumbled.

Ichigo flexed his wings again. He started slowly, but eventually forced his wings to carry him upward. It was awkward, for him to perform as well as to watch. Ichigo swayed mid-flight and struggled to keep himself from plummeting back to the ground or flipping upside-down.

After a few minutes of almost crashing, Ichigo gained enough composure to keep himself upright and not fall.

"Seems like your physical properties transferred into your wings." Uryu explained. "This being your first attempt at flying, I'm surprised you could even lift off."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Uh, sure, we'll go with that. Now, I'll just fly ahead and scout the area." He forced himself forward, slowly at first but gained speed to fly faster than any of the others could have possibly galloped.

Chad watched Ichigo shrink as he drew further away. "Does anyone else think it's funny that the thing on his flank is a strawberry?"

They all nodded their heads in agreement.


	2. Short Fuse Rainbow

I do not own Bleach or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

**Chapter 2: Short Fuse Rainbow**

As Ichigo flew closer to the town, he saw an increasing number of the horse-creatures walking around.

"No one seems to be attacking me. I guess I'll get closer." He thought out loud.

He began to slowly approach the ground, but a multicolored streak flew so close to him he spun around repeatedly until he almost emptied his stomach.

"What the hell was that for?" Ichigo yelled in the general direction the streak went, he was so dizzy he couldn't actually find the sky-blue pegasus whizzing around him.

"Get out of the sky if you can't handle it!" A squeaky voice yelled back. It was definitely female, that much Ichigo was sure of.

Ichigo shook his head to get rid of the stars clouding his vision. "What's that?"

He brought his eyes on a feminine figure hovering in front of him about fifteen yards away. She had a rainbow-hued mane and tail, both of which were medium length, and had a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt protruding towards her stomach on her left hip.

"I said, 'get out of the sky.'" She mocked. "Wait a second, I haven't seen you before. Are you from Cloudsdale?"

"Cloudsdale? What are you talk-" Ichigo stopped himself. "I mean, no. I'm from, uh, out of town."

The young mare flew closer to Ichigo and stared suspiciously at him. "Ri-i-ight."

Ichigo glared back into her magenta eyes.

The two floated in front of each other for a few minutes, neither one breaking the other's gaze.

"Well, Strawberry," she broke the tense silence, "think you can fly?"

Ichigo's eyes became harder at her calling him 'Strawberry.'

"Is that a challenge?" He growled with a sadistic smile.

"Are you scared?" She mocked.

"You're on!" Ichigo didn't stop to think he only learned how to fly an hour earlier, but he wasn't going to let some hot-shot pony insult him.

"Alright, Strawberry! Onetwothree, GO!" She took off, expecting Ichigo to not keep up with her countdown, but he started at the same time she did.

She was shocked, to say the least, as well as impressed slightly. "Not bad, Strawberry!"

"My name's not Strawberry!" Ichigo shouted over the sound of rushing wind.

"Whatever, you think you're good enough to take on Equestria's 'Best Young Flyer?'"

Ichigo had no idea what she was talking about, but he didn't care; all he wanted to was to make her eat her words, but his lack of experience in flying caught up to him. Slowly, he fell behind as the sky-blue mare pulled further away.

"Damn." He grunted between clenched teeth as he tried to pump his wings faster and harder.

The two were mere feet from the ground, Ichigo slightly behind her now. They blew through a park, half-a-dozen ponies' manes were whipped in the same direction the race was heading.

As they approached a tree, the mare ahead of Ichigo pulled up before slamming into the branches, he wasn't as lucky or skilled to pull off the same maneuver. Ichigo impacted the large plant, shaking the tree down to its roots and displacing a few dozen leaves to float to ground level.

Stars swam around Ichigo as he slid to the ground and turned so he was leaning back against the bark instead of his face holding him up.

Ichigo moaned at the base of the tree. "Ugh, dirty trick."

The pegasus floated slowly to the ground and tucked in her wings as she planted her feet. "Not dirty, just a difference of skill."

"What's going on?" A new voice asked.

Somewhere, a door flew open, but Ichigo couldn't place where from. When the world finally came back into focus, he'd find out.

"Nothing, Twilight, just me showing some new guy who's the Queen of the Skies around here."

"'New guy?' There's a new pony in town?" The new voice continued.

Ichigo managed to regain some of his composure, enough to make out shapes and colors at least, standing was still out of the question.

"Yeah, he's over here. Hey, Strawberry! You alright?" Two figures strolled towards Ichigo. One was the mare he just raced, the other was a unicorn. She had a violet coat, a straight, dark-purple mane and tail with a pink streak running through both, and a marking that looked like a light-purple star overlaying a white star with several smaller white stars surrounding.

"I-I told you…my name…my name's not…Strawberry." Ichigo stammered. "It's-it's Ichigo."

"Well, that's a strange name." The unicorn called 'Twilight' commented.

"Ich…Ichi…Ich…GAH! I'm just going to call you 'Strawberry' for your Cutie Mark." The pegasus concluded.

Ichigo was beginning to regain some mental stability. "Cutie…Mark?"

Laughing, the light-blue mare turned to the other pony. "Look at that, he's still out of it!"

"Maybe we should bring you into the Library. I'll have my assistant make us some tea." Twilight kneeled down to examine Ichigo briefly.

She stood straight again. "Rainbow, help me get him inside."

"You sure about this, Twilight?" Rainbow asked.

"Rain…bow…Twi…light?" Ichigo tried to take in the names of the two, but they seemed so abstract to his still foggy mind that he couldn't grasp them completely.

"We'll get to that later. For now, we'll help you out." The unicorn answered.

...

The three ponies sat around a table. Spike walked into the room with a tray, three cups sat on the platter.

"Got the tea, Twilight!" The young dragon shouted cheerily.

Spike was a short purple dragon with green spines lined from the top of his head down to his arrowhead-shaped tail.

"Thank you, Spike. Now, what did you say your name was again?" Twilight's horn glowed as the three cups floated off the tray and down in front of the three.

Spike ran up the stairs to do more of his chores.

"Ichigo." The orange-maned human-now-pegasus answered.

The tree that Ichigo had slammed into was actually the local library and home to Twilight Sparkle and her assistant-dragon, Spike. Inside, shelves filled with books lined almost every wall. That was all Ichigo had been able to discern as it was the only room he had been in. Well, that and the name of the sky-blue pegasus who gave him a splitting headache, Rainbow Dash. It had taken some time from Twilight to convince Rainbow that Ichigo wasn't a 'spy.' What she thought he was a spy for remained a mystery to everyone except Rainbow herself.

Ichigo stared at his cup; he wasn't sure how he was supposed to drink it. Twilight used her 'magic' to levitate it to her lips and Rainbow picked it up with her front hooves, something Ichigo was sure shouldn't be physically possible. He decided to leave it, better than spilling tea everywhere.

"And you're new in town?" She continued the questions.

"Yes." He replied.

Rainbow looked at him, "Maybe we should tell Pinkie, she always throws a 'Welcome to Ponyville Party' for new ponies."

That was something else Ichigo learned; the creatures here referred to themselves as 'ponies,' and the town he was in was called 'Ponyville.'

He cringed at the sound of a party; Ichigo was never really social.

"Actually," he added, "I have to get my friends. I've been gone a while and should get back to them."

"How many of you are there?" Twilight was still asking questions.

Ichigo sighed. The ponies here seemed nice enough, but he was still on edge and never let his guard down. Plus, he was tired of all the questions. "There are five of us, total."

"Pinkie's going to have a hay day." Twilight giggled.

Rainbow turned to the unicorn. "No kidding."

"Thanks for the tea, but I really should get going." Ichigo stood up and headed for the door.

"Hang on." Twilight stopped him. She willed her magic to bring a saddlebag onto her back and tie itself in, and then she levitated a scroll into an open pouch. "I'm going with you."

"Uh, I don't know about that." Ichigo said.

Twilight passed the tan pegasus. "What are you not sure about?"

Ichigo sighed. "Fine."

"You two can go, I have some napping to catch up on." Rainbow bolted towards the door. Twilight opened it before her friend could break it down.

"After you." She said.

Ichigo strolled out the door as Spike descended the stairs.

"You think it's them?" He asked quietly.

"I'm not sure, that's why I'm going with him." Twilight whispered back.

Spike gave her a thumbs-up. "Just be careful, Twilight."

She nodded and closed the door behind her.

...

"Ichigo's been gone for three hours, now. I hope he's okay." Orihime said.

Rukia draped her front leg around her friend. "I'm sure he's fine."

Uryu was intently examining the mark on his thigh. "Hmm."

Orihime faced the raven-haired unicorn. "What is it?"

"This is just a guess," he said, "but I think these marks represent something relevant to us and/or our abilities."

"What do you mean?" Rukia asked.

He lifted his head and turned so his flank was visible to the two mares. "Look at mine. A ball of yarn with an end tied to a Quincy cross. Now look at yours."

Orihime and Rukia did as they were told.

"Mine's my hair pins." Orihime raised a hoof to one of the blue, butterfly pins in her hair. "Oh! And those turn into the Shun Shun Rikka! But, I haven't been able to call them since we've been here."

"And I can't use my Quincy powers."

"And I don't have any of my Soul Reaper abilities." Rukia added.

"Right," Uryu continued, "I think these marks represent our abilities, but in this world, our powers don't exist."

Rukia looked confusedly at her flank. "My mark is a butterfly with snow. Hmm, I understand the snow, since my zanpakutou is Sode no Shirayuki, but why the black butterfly?"

Uryu put a hoof on his chin. "I'm not sure. Maybe it represents the fact that you're a Soul Reaper, but then again, Ichigo only has a strawberry. I'm more curious to Chad's mark."

They all looked at the large colt, then at his mark.

"It's the coin my abuelo gave me." Chad put a hoof on the gold coin attached to a chain around his neck.

Uryu nodded at Chad. "So, each of these marks stand for something about our personality or abilities, at least we figured that out."

Suddenly, a nearby bush began to shake, and a light-yellow being with a light-pink, flowing mane and tail appeared.

The mare spotted the four staring at her. "Oh," she squeaked, "my…."


	3. Hoofshake Meets Pokerface

I do not own Bleach or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

**Chapter 3: Hoofshake Meets Pokerface**

The four ponies stared at the new figure standing by the bush. She did the same to them, dropping the basket she was carrying in the process, and the five didn't say or do anything for some time before Orihime broke the silence.

"Hello there!"

The yellow pegasus, apparent because of her wings, turned her head away and squeaked.

"Is something wrong?" Orihime continued.

Again, the other mare squeaked, but this time also shook her head so her pink mane covered one of her light-blue eyes.

Uryu adjusted his view to the yellow pony's flank, to identify her mark; three pink-winged butterflies with blue bodies.

"Excuse me, miss," he approached her, his hooves clopped with each step, "I don't mean to be forward, but can you tell me about the butterflies on your flank."

The yellow pony blushed and adjusted so she was facing Uryu and her flank was hidden.

Orihime drove a hoof into Uryu's side, causing him to double over. "Uryu, I'm surprised! Staring at a young mare's flank like that! Shame on you."

"I'm sorry," Uryu coughed, "I didn't mean to stare."

During the minor tussle, Chad had stepped up and looked at the small, yellow pony. She looked up at him, eyes wide. He leaned down to replace the carrots that fell out of the basket and nudged it upright.

"Let me help you." His voice boomed, causing the pegasus to squeak and jump.

"Th-thank you," She whispered, "b-but that's not necessary."

Chad grabbed the basket handle with his teeth. "It's ungentlemanly to let a lady carry groceries."

The yellow pony blushed at his words. "Th-thank you, um, sir. But, um, those aren't groceries. I was going to feed a family of bunnies nearby."

"Then we'll help you." Chad answered.

Uryu had recovered and came up beside the giant colt. "Chad," he whispered, "what are you doing? We have to wait for Ichigo to get back."

"Then you guys wait for him. I'll help her. I can take care of myself, and it would go against my morals to not help." Chad retorted.

Rukia sighed. "Alright, Chad, you go and we'll wait for Ichigo to return."

Chad nodded and turned back to the pegasus. "Lead the way."

"Um, okay."

The two started to walk in the direction opposite the town.

"S-so, you're name's Chad? My name's Fluttershy." The yellow pony said.

"Nice to meet you." He said through clenched teeth.

Uryu turned to Rukia as the two departing ponies shrank in the distance. "Shouldn't we stay in a group? We sent Ichigo to scout, but Chad's only going to help feed some rabbits."

"You know how strong Chad is, if he runs into any trouble, he can handle it." She answered in a matter of fact tone.

"Alright," Uryu furrowed his brow, "but I still don't agree with it."

…..

Another hour passed, and Ichigo still hadn't returned.

Uryu reared back on his legs and threw his front ones into the air. "It shouldn't take this long for Ichigo to scout the town. It's almost dark and he hasn't returned and neither has Chad. We were sent here to gather information for Urahara, and we can't do that just sitting around."

"Calm down, Uryu. I'm sure Ichigo will be back soon." Orihime said empathetically.

"You know," Rukia mused, "we could have gone to the town ourselves. That other one didn't seem to pose a threat; I think we would be fine if we went ourselves."

"Do you not understand the importance of learning your enemy's strengths and weaknesses before engaging them? Not to mention we can't use any of our abilities!" Uryu shouted.

Orihime frowned. "But, we don't know if they're our enemies or not."

The Quincy-now-unicorn turned to the peach-colored pony. "Ichigo's been gone for four hours, and we haven't heard from Chad either. For all we know, they could've been captured or killed!"

"Who could've been killed?" A voice asked.

"Ichigo? Is that you?" Orihime asked.

Ichigo's figure appeared on the top of a nearby hill in the direction of the town. "Yeah, it's me."

A second figure came up beside him.

Rukia pointed at the other pony. "Who's that with you?"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. I live here in Ponyville and helped Ichigo with a little problem." Twilight answered before Ichigo could say anything.

"What problem?" Orihime gasped slightly.

"I, uh, I sort of flew into a tree, er, library." Ichigo said.

"So, Ichigo, I thought you said there were five of you." Twilight looked at him.

Ichigo frowned. "There are; there's me, Uryu, Orihime, Rukia, and Chad. Wait, where's Chad?" He pointed at each of his friends until he got to Chad, who was nowhere to be seen.

Rukia took a step forward. "Chad went to help someone. She was very meek, yellow coat, pink mane and tail, butterflies on her flank-"

"That's Fluttershy, she's a friend of mine." Twilight interrupted.

"They went to feed some bunnies." Orihime added.

Twilight giggled a little bit. "That's definitely Fluttershy. Anyway, I have something I'd like to discuss with you."

"Wait, what about Chad?" Ichigo asked.

"I guess we'll have to fill him in later." Twilight answered.

The sun finished its descent into the horizon and the moon began its journey on the opposite.

"Come on, everypony. You can stay in the Library for the time you're here, we can wait until tomorrow to talk." The unicorn motioned for the group to follow her.

"Do you think we should go with her?" Uryu asked Rukia in a whisper.

Rukia shrugged. "Ichigo seems to trust her, that's no small feat, so I think we should take her up on her offer."

"Besides," Orihime jumped between the two, "what better place to gather information than at a library?"

Rukia and Uryu exchanged looks.

"I guess she's right." Rukia said.

The five trotted through the increasing darkness of night back towards Ponyville.

…..

"Thank you again for helping me feed the bunnies, Chad." Fluttershy said.

Chad hummed softly, a now empty basket held in his teeth.

It took a lot longer to reach and distribute the carrots to the family than Chad had anticipated. The small animals were more than willing to accept the offer, but they were further out than he thought. Now he was walking Fluttershy back to her cottage, after all, he would feel awful if anything happened if he left her alone.

"I like animals." He added.

Fluttershy smiled widely at this. "Oh, that's wonderful. I absolutely love animals."

They trotted together in the darkness, Fluttershy not using her wings so she could stay in stride with Chad.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, but, um, Chad's kind of, um, a strange name…." Fluttershy didn't finish her thought.

Chad kept his eyes forward.

Fluttershy looked at the ground. "I-I'm sorry-"

"My actual name is Yasutora Sado, but my friends call me Chad." He interrupted her.

Fluttershy became even more confused at his actual name. As far as she was concerned, it was even stranger than 'Chad,' but she wouldn't say anything.

They finally arrived at her cottage, and Chad followed her inside. The inside of the cottage felt very earthy; a bookshelf lined the far wall, stairs spiraled around it and disappeared into the second floor, a rug lied in the middle of the room, and a yellow couch sat underneath a large window to the right of Chad.

He motioned for her to take the basket so she could put it where she wanted.

"Thank you again, Chad." Fluttershy said after she placed the basket next to the couch.

He turned to the exit, but was stopped by Fluttershy.

"You, um, you don't have to leave if you don't want to. You can stay here tonight. That is, if you, um, would like to."

Chad thought about it for a second; he should get back to the others, but he might get lost in the darkness. He turned and nodded at the small, yellow pegasus.

She smiled at him. "You can sleep in my bed upstairs. I can sleep on the couch."

He shook his head. "I wouldn't feel right taking your bed."

"Oh, um, than I guess you can have the couch. Um, are you sure?" Fluttershy asked.

Chad nodded his head.

"Okay. Then, I guess I'll see you in the morning." She trotted up the stairs as he strolled to the couch and settled in. He'd look for his friends the next day.

**(A.N. These first few chapters were all written around the same time, so they'll be uploaded in quick succession. Once it catches up to me, updates may and probably will take longer.)**


	4. Bad Scene and a Pony Show

I do not own Bleach or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

**Chapter 4: Bad Scene and a Pony Show**

Twilight stretched underneath the covers. Rays of sunlight leaked in through a window and lit her soft, violet face. She hopped out of her bed and trotted to her mirror. Levitating a brush with her magic, she straightened her hair.

"Alright, Spike. Time to get up." She called softly to the dragon as she lowered the brush to its previous spot and made her way down the stairs.

Spike mumbled something, and got out of his basket-bed.

She rounded the steps to see her guests still asleep. The library was neat and orderly; a rare occurrence for the room. Twilight had cleaned up her latest study session before bringing Ichigo in by coincidence. The only thing out of place was the bed in the center of the room and the four strange ponies sleeping on or near it. Orihime and Rukia occupied the spare bed Twilight gave them, and Ichigo and Uryu lied to either side of the cot.

Twilight giggled to herself. "Alright, everypony, we have a lot to do today."

Uryu and Rukia got up before the other two. Rukia rolled out of the bed, and they both stretched. The white mare turned back to the bed to nudge Orihime.

"Orihime, get up." She said quietly.

"Hmm, no, not here, Ichigo now's not the time." Orihime mumbled in her sleep.

Rukia cocked an eyebrow. "Orihime?"

"Saucy cupcakes!" The orange-maned mare shouted as she bolted upright.

She scanned the room to find three very confused ponies looking at her.

"Oh, good morning~!" Orihime sang.

Rukia shook her head as Uryu walked around the bed to find a sprawled-out, sleeping Ichigo. "Ichigo! Get up!"

Ichigo mumbled something unintelligible.

"What was that?" Uryu leaned in closer to hear.

"I said, 'bite me.'" Ichigo growled under his breath.

Uryu stepped on Ichigo's face with his front, right hoof. "Get up you lazy son of a-"

"Get off my face, Uryu!" Ichigo's muffled voice came.

"Make me, Strawberry!" The white unicorn mocked.

Ichigo opened his eyes. "That's it!"

He flexed his wings and brought his back legs under Uryu. With a powerful push, Ichigo sent the white colt flying across the room and into a bookshelf.

Ichigo flew up close to the ceiling. "Don't call me 'Strawberry!'"

Uryu un-buried himself from under a pile of books the impact dislodged from the shelf and faced his friend. "Does it bother you, Strawberry?"

The tan pegasus leaned forward into a flying charge aimed at Uryu.

"Enough!" Rukia and Twilight yelled together.

Ichigo stopped just before planting his hoof in the middle of Uryu's head, and Uryu stopped just short of landing a punch into Ichigo's jaw.

"Don't you see how stupid you two are being?" Rukia yelled at the two colts.

Twilight descended the last of the stairs and stopped at the base. "Thank you, Rukia, though I think that was a little, um, much."

Dark-purple eyes met Twilight's orbs. "You need to be harsh with these two idiots."

The violet unicorn rolled her eyes. "Anyway, let's get some breakfast before I explain things. Come on, everypony."

She floated her saddlebag onto her back and willed the door open with her magic and they all exited with Twilight shutting door behind her.

Spike rubbed his eyes as he walked down the stairs. His jaw dropped when he saw the mess left in the library.

"I have to clean this up now. I guess my other chores can wait." He grumbled.

…..

The five ponies approached what looked like an interpretation of the cottage from _Hansel & Gretel_. The walls and roof looked like they were made of gingerbread; what looked like frosting lined the edges; pink windows occupied at least some space of each wall; a tall turret topped with a cupcake-shaped room protruded out of the gingerbread rooftop; and a sign depicting a cupcake with pink frosting dangled from a roof-corner.

Ichigo and Uryu shared the same, mortified expression.

"This place is worse than Kukaku's." Ichigo stated quietly.

Uryu nodded his head slightly. "We're not really going in there, are we?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the two colts. "Is something wrong?"

Orihime was simply ecstatic. "Not at all! This place is so cute!"

"I'm glad you like it," Twilight giggled, "time to get some breakfast."

Rukia strolled next to Twilight; Orihime hopped ahead of the group; and Ichigo and Uryu kept their heads down.

"I won't tell anyone, if you don't." Uryu whispered.

Ichigo nodded. "Deal."

The two shook hooves and slunk into the shop.

Inside, the building held onto the same candy-cottage motif as the exterior. A couple archways were held up with red and white candy-cane pillars, and sweets of all kinds lined shelves, tables, and display cases all around the room.

As the door shut behind them, a bell signaled their arrival.

"Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!" A cheerful voice called to them from the back.

Twilight walked forward as the others continued to examine the room. "Hey, Pinkie."

"Oh. Hi, Twilight!" A bright pink mare with an even brighter pink, cotton candy mane and tail bounced into the room through a door at the back of the shop, a silver platter filled with colorful cupcakes was balanced on her head. Her eyes were closed.

"I just finished a batch of cupcakes. You want one for-" Pinkie opened her bright-blue eyes, and stopped mid-sentence as well as mid-bounce, freezing in the air. It almost appeared like the three balloons, two blue lower and to either side of one yellow, on her flank were holding her up.

She gasped loudly at the sight of the four newcomers, still in the air.

"I thought that might be your reaction." Twilight smiled.

Pinkie finally descended to the ground, catching the plate, still holding the cupcakes, on her head.

"Everypony, this is Pinkie Pie; Pinkie, this is Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, and Uryu." Twilight briefly introduced each of them to the pink pony.

Before anypony could say anything, Pinkie dashed through the door she had entered from, the plate of cupcakes landing on a counter without one so much as quivering.

"Did-did we do something wrong?" Orihime asked.

The violet unicorn giggled. "Oh, no, that's just Pinkie Pie's reaction to new ponies."

A light-blue mare with a swirled, pink mane and tail made her way down some stairs to the right of everypony; her yellow apron left the three, pink-frosted cupcakes on her flank visible.

"Why, hello Miss Sparkle. Are you here to see Pinkie?" She asked.

Twilight turned to face the elder mare. "Hello, Mrs. Cake. I came here for breakfast, but I kind of wanted to see Pinkie's reaction."

"Reaction?" Mrs. Cake turned her pink-colored eyes to the four other ponies standing in the room and smiled. "Oh, new ponies. Well, then I guess she's off to prepare. Now, what would you like to eat, dear?"

Twilight ordered five apple cupcakes in a box, left a mouthful of 'bits' she pulled from her bag on the counter, and thanked Mrs. Cake before the five left Sugarcube Corner.

…..

Uryu stared at his cupcake. "We're really supposed eat to sweets for breakfast?"

The five ponies had wandered back to the Library to enjoy their meal. They all lied outside on a blanket Twilight stored in her bag with their cupcakes in front of them.

"Why not?" Orihime said, mouthful of pastry.

"It's not healthy." The white colt pushed his glasses higher on his nose. "One should eat a balanced breakfast to maintain a healthy lifestyle."

Rukia chewed on a small bit of her meal. "You either eat it or go hungry."

"Actually," Twilight interrupted, "ponies don't suffer from eating sweets. It's a part of a perfectly normal diet here."

Uryu eyed the violet unicorn that sat opposite of him. "You sound like you don't think we're ponies."

Everypony else turned their eyes to the violet mare.

She swallowed her food before speaking. "That's because I know better."

Ichigo hadn't touched his cupcake, he wouldn't admit it, but he agreed with Uryu. His voice was hard and filled with suspicion as he spoke. "What do you mean you 'know better'?"

Twilight looked at the tan pegasus. "I received a letter from Princess Celestia about 'five ponies that will be arriving in Ponyville' shortly before you crashed into the Library."

Her horn glowed as she opened her saddlebag and levitated a scroll in front of the others. The scroll read:

_To my faithful student,_

_ I am writing you to tell you about five ponies that will be arriving in Ponyville. They will have strange names and will act far different from other ponies. That's because they are coming from a place called 'Karakura Town,' located in a different universe than ours. I won't tell you any more as I think it's important you learn from these newcomers on your own. Treat them well and help them in any way you can, but allow them freedom to learn on their own._

_ Princess Celestia_

"So, you know about us. Wha-" Ichigo was cut off by Uryu.

"Wait, there's a post script.

They all leaned in to read the last part of the letter:

_P.S. To the five ponies, Kisuke told me not to send anypony for you, but I felt this was a loophole of sorts. I hope to meet you before you depart._

…..

Chad awoke to a warm sensation across his back. The sun had risen and was shining through the window behind the couch he slept on. He stretched his large front legs and stepped onto the floor, his weight caused the wooden boards to quietly creek. Across the room, a small white rabbit was snoring softly in a basket; Chad tip-hoofed so as to not wake the peaceful animal. He moved to the door and carefully opened it. The morning air was warm and calm. Off in the distance, birds chirped merrily.

Fluttershy stood outside, feeding a flock of ducks, and turned to find Chad taking in the serenity. "Oh, good morning, Chad."

He nodded at her. "I should get back to my friends.

"Oh, okay. Can I, um, can I go with you? If, um, if that's okay with you, that is." She stammered.

Chad didn't see any problem with her tagging along; someone like her shouldn't be so far out of town anyway.

"Sure." His voice rumbled.

Fluttershy smiled at the large colt before turning to the ducks. "Okay, little friends, that's all for now, wouldn't want you to get sick from eating too much."

All of the birds turned and waddled away from the yellow pegasus, and the two started in the direction of the pond Chad fell into the previous day.


	5. Yo Yo Pony Boy

I do not own Bleach or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

**Chapter 5: Yo-Yo Pony Boy**

"They're not here." The large brown colt stated.

Chad and Fluttershy stood next to the pond he and his friend fell into upon leaving the Senkaimon's gate the day before.

"I'm sorry." Fluttershy whispered.

The two stood in silence for a few minutes before Fluttershy had an idea.

"Maybe they went into town." She pointed to the town Ichigo went to scout.

He nodded his head and hummed. Chad stepped into motion and Fluttershy floated next to him; the first time he saw her use her wings. Together, they made their way towards the town, in hopes of finding the others.

…..

The town was closer than Chad expected, considering how long Ichigo had been gone. They arrived a little before noon, as far as he could guess. He still hadn't seen his friends, but he didn't lose faith.

He strolled through a park with Fluttershy flying beside him. They passed a bench that held two mares; one teal with similarly colored mane and tail, and one a light-cream color with an indigo and pink mane and tail. The teal one sat in a slouch while the other lied down.

"You know, this is my favorite place in Ponyville." Chad heard the slouching one say to the other.

"I know, dear." The cream pony responded.

Chad kept his eyes forward as they entered the town's center. He heard a thick, feminine southern drawl exclaiming something about 'great deals' and 'high quality products.'

"Fluttershy!" The voice called.

Fluttershy squeaked, but relaxed when she realized who the voice belonged to. "Oh, hello, Applejack."

The yellow pegasus turned to the right, causing Chad to stop to observe the exchange. He saw Fluttershy approach a wooden stand holding baskets filled with apples, the voice that called her belonged to an orange pony with freckles and wearing a cowboy hat. Her long, yellow mane was partially concealed because of the hat, tied at the end with a red rubber band, and bounced slightly as she brought her front hooves up onto the stand.

"Who's yer friend?" She asked the meek pegasus.

Fluttershy turned her head to locate Chad. "Um, Applejack, this is Chad."

Chad strolled up to the stand and bowed his head slightly. "Nice to meet you."

Applejack's green eyes roamed across his strong body from head to flank. "Well, boy howdy, looks like you've seen yer fair share o' hard work. Ya'll could give Big Macintosh a run fer his bits, that's fer shore."

"Uhh." The brown colt wasn't sure how to respond.

Suddenly, a pink pony dropped down next to Fluttershy, her back to Chad. He didn't care, he was more curious as to where she came from.

"Youguysaren'! Four! !"She chattered faster than Chad could comprehend.

"Simmer down, sugarcube." Applejack said. "What's this 'bout a party?"

The pink pony took in a breath. "I'm throwing a super-duper ULTRA special welcome party!"

Applejack raised an eyebrow; well, the equivalent of as ponies didn't have 'eyebrows.' "A welcome party? Fer who?"

"There are four new ponies in town! And since they're new, that means I don't know them, and I know everypony in town." The overly excited mare continued.

"Um, Pinkie," Fluttershy interrupted, "I don't mean to be rude, but, um, look behind you."

Pinkie turned around and looked up at Chad, who had remained silent through the bombardment of news.

Her eyes widened and she gasped loudly. "FIVE? That means it has to be a super-duper ultra-SUPREME welcome party!"

Pinkie continued to chatter, but Chad stopped her.

"Excuse me, miss. You said there are four more?"

"Yep." She chirped.

"Do you know where they are?" He continued.

Pinkie rested a hoof on her chin. "I just left them back at Sugarcube Corner."

"Could you please take me there?"

"You sure do ask a lot of questions; don't you?" The pink mare said.

Chad stared at Pinkie. She stared back.

"Uh," Chad broke the sudden and awkward silence, "could you take me to them, please?"

Pinkie smiled. "Okie Dokie Lokie!"

She hopped away in a seemingly random direction.

"It was nice meeting you." Chad said to Applejack. "Are you coming, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy blushed slightly. "O-okay, if you want me to. Bye Applejack."

The two galloped after the party pony, who was singing something about the greatest party ever.

"Yep, givin' Big Mac a run fer his bits in ev'ry way. Ah wonder how he'll take to Fluttershy blushin' at 'nother colt." Applejack mused to nopony in particular. "Oh well, back ta business."

…..

"That bastard." Ichigo whispered angrily. "He knew damn well where we were going."

"Calm down, Ichigo." Rukia said.

Orihime wiped frosting from her mouth. "Yeah, Ichigo, lighten up! This place is great!"

Twilight replaced the scroll in her saddlebag. "So, I want to know everything about your universe. You see, I read something about alternate universes and dimensions, and this is the perfect time to-"

Rukia raised a hoof. "Not now, Twilight. We have to find Chad, we haven't seen him since yesterday and we'll need to explain everything to him."

The violet mare realized her excitement and blushed. "Sorry, you're right."

They finished their breakfast (Orihime ate Ichigo's and Uryu's cupcakes) and helped Twilight fold the picnic blanket. She levitated the fabric back into her bag, and they all trotted back towards the town center. They trotted a few feet, Ichigo flying, when they heard what sounded like singing.

"~Oh, it'll be the greatest party in the world! The super-est, duper-est gathering ever unfurled! And it will all be put on by me! For five brand new poni-i-ies!~"

"That sounds like Pinkie." Twilight stopped the group.

A bouncing pink pony appeared in the street ahead of the group, and two ponies jogged behind her.

"Chad!" Ichigo shouted.

The large, brown colt stopped mid-stride and looked around for the origin of the voice.

"Ichigo?" He said once he spotted the group.

The two groups approached each other. Ichigo and Chad bumped hooves as a greeting once they were close enough.

"It's good to see you again." The orange-maned pegasus said.

Chad's face didn't show any emotion. "Yeah, you too."

Somehow, Pinkie reappeared behind Ichigo without anypony noticing. "Found them!"

"Where were you?" Orihime asked Chad, ignoring the sudden appearance of the pink mare.

"I stayed with Fluttershy last night." The large colt answered.

Twilight's eyes were wide as she watched Chad converse with his friends.

"I think you're bigger than Big Macintosh. I've never seen such a…physically fit colt." She exclaimed.

Everypony turned to her. Pinkie put a hoof under her friend's chin to close Twilight's lowered bottom jaw.

"Snap out of it, Twilight." The pink mare giggled. "You're staring."

Chad turned his whole body to face Twilight. "Applejack said something similar."

"Who's Applejack?" Uryu asked.

Fluttershy stepped around Chad to face the raven-maned colt. "She's, um, she's a friend of ours."

The group chatted for a few minutes before Pinkie started screaming.

"Run, everypony! Twitchy tail and it's a big one!" She dashed under a nearby cart.

Twilight and Fluttershy were the next ponies to hide, either in or under close by plants, both wide-eyed with fear.

"What?" Orihime had time to ask before something crashed in the middle of the group.

**(A.N. Late night updates and two in one day, because I like this one and I hate leaving finished chapters lying around. XD This is going to be tough; nine chapters done as of Oct. 4, but I don't want to upload them all at once. My willpower is being tested. Wish me luck.)**


	6. Pony Streak

I do not own Bleach or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

**Chapter 6: Pony Streak**

Dust swirled around the five ponies.

"What the hell?" Ichigo coughed as he shielded his eyes with a hoof.

"What was that?" Rukia asked.

After a few moments, the dirt settled, revealing a sky-blue pegasus who was rubbing her head with a hoof.

"Ow, that didn't go according to plan." She moaned.

Another pony, a unicorn, galloped up to the group. Her eyes were hidden behind deep-purple glasses and a set of headphones sat atop her vibrant-blue, unkempt mane. A black musical note (specifically, a double note) stuck out against her pure white coat and was further emphasized by her tail that was the same color as her locks.

"Whoa, Dash, you alright?" Her voice was relaxed and airy despite the commotion.

She stopped at the edge of the crater to find the pegasus pulling herself up.

Rainbow looked up at the unicorn. "Yeah, Scratch, I'm fine. How was the timing?"

The white mare chuckled. "If you would've actually done the Rainboom, you would have done it right at the drop, so the timing was perfect."

"Darn it!" The pegasus swore.

"Hey! It's you!" Ichigo yelled.

Rainbow Dash scanned the outside of the small hole. "Oh. Hey, Strawberry, looks like you found your friends."

Rukia and Orihime found themselves holding Ichigo back like they had before they left Karakura Town so he wouldn't hurt the mare out of anger. During the ordeal, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie came out of their hiding places.

"Hey Vinyl. What are you two doing?" Twilight asked.

Vinyl Scratch turned to the violet unicorn. "Hey Twilight, we're trying to choreograph Dash's next performance with some Dubtrot. The idea is to pull off the Sonic Rainboom right as the drop hits. With the song and boom perfectly timed, we foresee some ponies losing consciousness."

Fluttershy gasped quietly. "Isn't that a bad thing?"

"For those that actually do, yeah it is, but the ones that stay awake will never forget it." The DJ pony laughed.

"Including the Wonderbolts!" Rainbow pulled herself out of the crater, her wings fully extended.

"Um, excuse me, but what are you guys talking about?" Orihime asked meekly.

The rainbow-maned pegasus looked almost offended. "You don't know about the Wonderbolts; THE Wonderbolts? Or about the Sonic Rainboom? Do you live in the Everfree Forest or something?"

The peach pony took a step back. "Um, no."

Twilight spoke up before Rainbow could say anything else. "How about we go get ready for Pinkie's party?"

Remembering her plans, Pinkie Pie inhaled dramatically. "That's right! I have to prepare your guys' super-duper ultra-SUPREME welcome party!"

She galloped away so fast a cloud appeared in her place and dissipated after a few moments.

They all agreed to follow the party pony, all except Ichigo.

"Hey," he stopped Rainbow, "I want a rematch."

The other pegasus looked at him. "You want to lose again?"

"That won't happen this time." Ichigo retorted.

Rainbow stared directly into his amber eyes. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Ichigo! Are you two coming?" Rukia shouted from a few dozen yards away.

"We'll catch up!" Rainbow yelled back, the question wasn't directed at her, but Ichigo would have said the same thing.

"Alright, let's set some ground rules." Ichigo's intent showed in his gaze. "First one to make it to that mountain, circle it, and land back here wins."

Rainbow Dash turned to look at the aforementioned peak. It was a few miles off and rose above the surrounding range to be distinguishable.

"Alright." She agreed to his terms.

"And," he continued, "I'll countdown."

Rainbow frowned. "Fine, you start it."

After the two pegasi lined up side-to-side, Ichigo started counting.

"Three."

They both tensed.

"Two."

In unison, they lowered their heads and extended their wings.

"One!"

Two streaks erupted from the ground, one rainbow-hued and the other orange in color.

They stayed together as they ascended the first stretch of sky, neither one pulling ahead or dragging behind.

"You been practicing, Strawberry?" Rainbow yelled over the rushing wind.

Ichigo was still directly to her side. "Not really."

She almost turned to look at him as she thought out loud, "He shouldn't be able to keep up with me after his weak performance yesterday." Rainbow snuck a glance at her opponent, "He looks so determined."

Her perception wasn't wrong, Ichigo's eyes and face showed a pure intent to win.

Ichigo turned his eyes to look at the ground; the world below looked like a massive green streak. Nothing was clear, and it was exhilarating. He had flown using his Soul Reaper powers before, but this was different, this was more involved. The feeling of the wind running through his short, spiked mane felt amazing.

He redirected his focus. "Don't get distracted." He said to himself.

The two approached the mountain; Ichigo was on the outside of the turn, and he knew it. If he was going to win, he was going to have to push himself even harder to stay in the race. Rainbow wasn't going to let up, he could tell that much.

"Unless…." He said.

Ichigo quickly turned his body so he was under the mare.

"What are you doing?" She shouted.

The tan pegasus smiled. "This way, the turn won't be as harsh."

They rounded the mountain top. He returned to his original position as they began their descent.

Ichigo began to feel his wings burn due to exhaustion, but he knew Rainbow had to be feeling the same way.

"Don't falter, you have resolve. You can win. She's just as tired." He tried to pump himself up, but to no avail.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ichigo saw Rainbow begin to pull ahead.

"Damn it." He grunted.

The sky-blue pegasus didn't turn her head as they got closer to the landing zone. "Sorry, Strawberry, this is where it ends."

Ichigo was barely a second behind Rainbow as the landed. Dust was thrown everywhere from the dual impacts. Both of the pegasi panted, Ichigo heaved heavier than the more experience flyer, but not by much.

"Not bad," the mare caught her breath, "but it looks like: Rainbow, two; Strawberry, zero."

He was too tired to get angry at her taunt.

"This is weird; I don't get this tired when I fight." He said under his breath.

Ichigo stretched out his burning wings, they felt heavy, and so he folded them against his body. She did the same.

After a while, the two started slowly after their friends. His head was low as they walked, their hooves clopped in unison.

"I gotta say," Rainbow cheerily said, "I haven't flown like that since my practices for the 'Best Young Flyer' competition. You're good, Strawberry."

"My name's not 'Strawberry.'" Ichigo grunted, but it lacked the same anger he once felt.

He was lost in memory of the euphoria he felt watching the trees flash by under him and the rushing wind whipped his mane and tail during the race.

"What's wrong? Not a sore loser, are ya?" Rainbow shoved him slightly with her shoulder.

Ichigo almost lost his balance, and she laughed at him as he yelled at her. They trotted towards Sugarcube Corner, where a mass of ponies were gathered for one of Pinkie Pie's legendary parties.


	7. Neightown Never Sounded So Good

I do not own Bleach or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

**Chapter 7: Neightown Never Sounded So Good**

Sugarcube Corner was packed with almost everypony in Ponyville. It had been sometime since Pinkie Pie hosted a party of this magnitude, not since Princess Celestia visited a few months before this celebration.

Everypony was busy chatting, but the guests of honor, all except Orihime, stood quiet in a corner. They had always been used to staying quiet and under the radar, so this was a strange experience.

"What are you doing?" Orihime asked Pinkie.

The pink party pony tipped the red bottle in her mouth to cover a pink frosted cupcake. "What does it look like, silly filly? I'm putting hot sauce on my cupcake."

She ate the treat in one bite.

Orihime looked on, amazed. "Wow! I'd never thought of that! Can I try one?"

Before she could move, Pinkie shoved a coated sweet into the orange-maned mare's mouth. She chewed on the cupcake for a few moments before she spoke.

"Oh, wow! That's really good!"

Uryu witnessed the exchange and sighed. "It figures Orihime would like something like that."

During their short time reunited, the others explained to Chad what was going on. Now, the giant colt stood quiet next to Ichigo.

"So, where were you yesterday, Chad?" The pegasus asked.

Chad didn't move. "I was feeding some bunnies, and then I stayed with Fluttershy."

Rukia smiled slyly from the other side of Ichigo. "Oh, so SHE's your type."

The brown earth pony blushed slightly. "N-no, it's not like that."

"Don't get too attached, Chad," Uryu interjected coldly, "we are going to have to leave sometime. Besides, these 'ponies' are an entirely different species than us."

"And long distance relationships usually don't work, not to mention inter-universal relationships." Rukia added.

Chad nodded. "I know; we're just friends."

Pinkie suddenly appeared in the middle of the group, wrapping her arms around Rukia's and Ichigo's necks. "Come on, everypony, time to meet the guests of honor!"

A large group of ponies gathered around them.

Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy stood on the other side of the room, away from the mob of ponies eager to meet new friends.

"Has anypony seen Rarity?" Twilight asked her friends.

Applejack shrugged. "Ah talked to her 'fore comin'. She said she'd be here. Ah'm more int'rested in Fluttershy and the big guy, though."

Fluttershy blushed and looked at her hooves.

"Wait a minute; I thought you liked Big Macintosh." Rainbow leaned in towards the yellow pegasus.

"Um, is it that obvious? I mean, um," Fluttershy stammered, "Chad likes animals, too, and he was just so helpful when I fed the little bunnies."

Twilight stared empathetically at her shy friend. "Fluttershy, listen, Chad and his friends aren't going to be around for long. They're, um, just visiting for a while."

She wasn't lying completely; the five new ponies were going to have to leave eventually, after all, this wasn't their universe.

"What're ya'll talkin' 'bout, Twi?" Applejack eyed the violet unicorn.

"I talked with Ichigo and his friends earlier. They're just passing through." Twilight answered with as much confidence as possible.

Twilight wasn't a bad liar, but it was hard to slip anything passed the pony that represented the Spirit of Honesty.

"Alright, Twilight," Applejack conceded, "if ya'll say so."

The unicorn relaxed slightly, she hadn't realized how tense she was during the brief interrogation.

"Anyway, where IS your brother, Applejack?" Twilight changed the subject.

The farm pony turned to look at the large group of ponies surrounding Ichigo and his friends. "Well, somepony has to stay and look after the farm, and it shore ain't gonna be Granny Smith."

Rainbow was looking at Ichigo flying above the group. Uryu was yelling at him. Ichigo tried to fly away, mocking Uryu the entire time, but was stopped by a group of pegasi.

She turned to look at Twilight, her voice laced with sadistic intent. "Isn't Caramel in town?"

Twilight felt her face turn red, it wasn't very noticeable, but she was aware of it.

"Ha! Ya'll couldn't pay me to let Caramel look after the farm. He wanted ta come in town anyway." Applejack laughed as she explained.

"I wonder why." The sky-blue pegasus' voice overflowed with sarcasm.

"I-" Twilight started, but was stopped at the sound of a collective gasp.

Everypony looked at the crowd, and then turned their gaze where the large group was staring. What they saw caused the four mares' jaws to drop: Princess Celestia was standing in the doorway. All of the party goers, except for the five new ponies, bowed.

The princess was magnificent and royal looking. Her snow-white coat; her long, pale-rainbow hued, flowing mane and tail; and her sun Cutie Mark and matching necklace shouted elegance. Ichigo and his friends looked on in awe.

"Wait," Uryu whispered, "she has a horn AND wings? What does that make her?"

He was 'shhed' by Orihime, who was then bowing next to Pinkie Pie.

Twilight smiled and trotted up to her mentor. "Princess! What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Twilight!" Celestia nuzzled Twilight's cheek. "We're here to meet the new ponies, of course."

"'We?'" The violet unicorn echoed.

Princess Celestia side-stepped to reveal an indigo pony of the same breed behind her; the smaller filly's mane and tail were light-blue and her black-cloud Cutie Mark with moon matched the necklace she wore.

"H-hello." The other pony whispered.

The crowd gasped as one again, this time Orihime joined them, though she didn't know why.

"Oh!" Twilight's eyes widened. "Princess Luna, how…nice to see you."

"Who are they?" Rukia whispered.

Uryu kept his voice low. "Twilight said 'Princess Celestia.' She must be the one who wrote the letter."

"What about the other one?" Chad tried to whisper, but his voice still rumbled despite his best efforts.

Nopony had time to guess as Princess Celestia spied the four across the room. "Ah! You must be them."

"Y-yes, your majesty." Rukia answered.

"No need to by shy. Come here." The regal alicorn said.

Rukia nudged the still bowing Orihime with a hoof before the five started in the direction of the two royal ponies and Twilight.

…..

The party had started again after the two princesses greeted Ichigo and his friends. It took a bit of convincing by Celestia for Luna to introduce herself. They all, Twilight included, sat around a large table away from the main room where the party was still taking place.

"So," Ichigo's voice was hard, "you know Hat-n-Clogs?"

Princess Celestia looked confused. "Do you mean Kisuke?"

Rukia glared at Ichigo. "Yes he does your majesty."

"Then the answer is yes."

The tan pegasus became even more tense. "And you knew we were coming?"

The alicorn nodded.

"And you agree to this plan of his?" He continued, his anger ever rising.

She nodded again. "I felt it was a good opportunity for learning."

Ichigo exploded into a fit of cursing and yelling.

"ICHIGO!" Rukia shouted at the top of her lungs. "You are in the presence of royalty. Sit down and shut up."

He sat on his haunches, his front legs crossed in front of his chest and his wings extended out of anger.

"I'm sorry, Princess." Rukia apologized for Ichigo.

"No need. Kisuke told me he was quick to anger." Princess Celestia smiled and waved her hoof.

"Since you know Urahara," Uryu spoke up, "maybe you can tell us why he sent us here."

The princess faced the colt. "Didn't he already tell you? You're here to learn."

The white unicorn sighed as he continued. "He told us that much, but I want to know; why."

"I can't tell you anymore," Celestia went on, "for two reasons; one, Kisuke made me promise, and two, that's all there is. He wanted you to learn about us and our ways without merely hearing it from me."

"Um, Tia." Luna interrupted.

Celestia turned to the indigo alicorn. "What is it, little sister?"

"Remember what you told me? About the monsters." The small filly continued.

"Oh, that's right! Kisuke told me to tell you something." She said to the group. "He said let you know why we don't have Hollows and for you to tell us about your afterlife. The answer to the first part is because we don't know anything about after death. It's a mystery. Once a pony passes on, that's it. We don't know anything else."

Rukia closed her eyes. "Hmm. Well, I suppose it's our turn."

She pulled out a pad and crayons from out of nowhere.

"She must've learned that from Pinkie." Twilight thought out loud.

Ichigo grimaced. "No. She does this all the time."

Rukia drew with a few colors, holding the crayons in her mouth to use them. "You see, we actually have three worlds in our universe. Well, four, but Hueco Mundo is still a bit of a mystery. Anyway," she held the drawing in her mouth, causing her voice to sound muffled, the picture depicted something that looked like Earth and the Sereitei with a dark-purple in between and crudely drawn rabbit heads encircling the entire thing, "here's Erf, and ofer here is the Soul Society; and, thif if the Dangai Prefipife World. When a perfon dies, their soul begins to trafel between the Soul Society and Erf using the Dangai Prafipife World."

"Um, why don't you just put the pad on the table?" Celestia smiled.

Rukia did as the princess suggested and continued with her explanation. "As I was saying, there's always a balance of souls between the two worlds. These souls spend time on Earth and then return to the Soul Society, but there are also Hollows that stalk these souls." She drew a skull-like rabbit head on the next page. "Hollows feed on human souls. They come from Hueco Mundo, and the souls that are devoured turn into Hollows themselves. However, human souls may also turn into Hollows if they resist Konso, the process Soul Reapers use to send the departed to the Soul Society."

Celestia looked on, very interested in what Rukia was teaching; Luna's eyes spiraled from all of the facts; and Twilight mimicked her mentor's expression.

"Even as a pony, you still suck at drawing." Ichigo said.

The draw pad was suddenly implanted in his snout and he fell over.

Luna started to chuckle as Celestia stood. "I think that's enough for today. After all, we still have a party to enjoy. Come on, everypony."

They entered the party again as a group, everypony in the room bowed again as the princesses walked in.

"Maybe we should leave. This is your party, anyway." Celestia looked at the five strange ponies. "It was a pleasure to meet you."

Rukia, Orihime, Chad, and Uryu all bowed. Rukia pushed Ichigo's front hooves out from under him so he'd be forced to do the same.

"Thank you your majesty." The white mare said.

After the two royal ponies left, Pinkie jumped in the middle of the crowd.

"Come on, everypony, it's time for Pin the Tail on the Pony!"


	8. Extra Chapter

I do not own Bleach or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

**Extra Chapter: All My Best Friends Are Bronies…I Wish**

A few months prior to the time Ichigo and his friends were sent to Equestria; Kisuke Urahara was studying the concept of alternate universes and other dimensions. And one day, he decided to alter the Senkaimon to view a random world outside of his universe. The results of that test shocked him. Instead of viewing a world, a female voice with no image answered.

"Hello? Is somepony there? This is strange; I've never seen this happen before, especially not out of my own closet." The static-laced voice said.

Urahara's grey eyes widened. He rubbed his short facial hair with one hand before he answered back. "Hello? I can't say I'm 'somepony,' but I'm here."

"Oh, my," she whispered, "who are you?"

"My name is Kisuke Urahara. Might I return the question?"

The voice took on a confident tone. "I am the ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia. Who are you, Mr. Urahara?"

He smiled. "I'm no one in particular, just a simple shopkeeper."

"A shopkeeper? From where, and how did you do this to my closet door?" Celestia asked.

Urahara chuckled slightly. "I live in a town called Karakura Town, as to the question of how; it was kind of an accident."

She hummed. "Karakura Town? That's not in Equestria. Where is it located?"

"Hmm, how should I explain that?" He tapped a finger on his chin. "Well, I guess I'll be straightforward, it's not actually in your universe."

Static filled the underground training room.

After a long bout of silence, Celestia spoke. "You're from a different universe?"

"Yep, for lack of a better word." He answered smiling.

"Then how did you contact me?" Her voice hid the tiniest bit of frustration.

Urahara thought about how to reply for a moment. "Well, I altered a Senkaimon to open a portal to another universe. It's just coincidence that I found your world."

Celestia sounded confused. "What's a 'Senkaimon?'"

He told her about the gate and its use as a portal between the Soul Society and Earth, which confused here even further.

…..

Over the course of the next few months, Urahara continued to contact Celestia, she even had her sister, Luna, join them a few times, but he wanted to learn more.

"Tell you what," he said one day during another call, "I'll do a few more tests and later send someone through the Senkaimon to meet you."

Celestia sounded overjoyed at this idea. "That would be fantastic, Kisuke! Would you be coming with them?"

Urahara shook his head, even though he knew she couldn't see him. "Sorry, princess, I'll have to stay behind to open and close the gate."

"Oh. That's too bad; I'd really like to meet you." She said dejectedly.

He blew air over his face with his hand-fan. "I should warn you, though; one of the people I intend on sending is a bit of a hot-head."

She giggled. "I'm sure it will be fine."

"Great!" He exclaimed as he clasped his hands together. "I'll send for them in a week."

…..

"Tessai, could you send messages to Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, Uryu, and Chad." Urahara called as he opened the floor panel that led to the secret room beneath his shop.

"Sure, boss. What should they say?" The large man asked.

Urahara was just about to disappear down the ladder when he looked at his friend. "Just tell them to be here as soon as possible."

He climbed down for a couple minutes. Once he reached the bottom, he strolled to the Senkaimon. The gate looked like it was made of concrete and was shaped in a perfectly symmetrical rectangle, taller than it was wide.

"This is it. For the sake of knowledge." He mused to himself. "Ichigo and his friends are close, but they will become closer if they witness the true magic of friendship from the beings that embody them."

…..

Princess Celestia paced back and forth nervously in front of her closet door. "It's been a week. Kisuke said he'd send them today."

"Don't worry, Tia, I'm sure they'll be here soon." Luna consoled her elder sister.

Celestia stopped her pacing and smiled at the smaller filly. She stepped closer to Luna and nuzzled her little sister's cheek. "I know, but I don't know anything about the ones he's sending. It's a little worrisome."

The dark-blue mare smiled. "I don't think Mr. Kisuke would send somepony he didn't trust, so you should trust them too."

…..

After Ichigo and his friends left and Tessai returned to his duties in the shop, Urahara stayed in the underground chamber and stared at the Senkaimon.

"Oh, I forgot." He pressed his hand against the gate again. "Princess? I forgot to tell you a couple of things."

"What is it, Kisuke?" Celestia answered.

"I sent them someplace else so they wouldn't crash into your room, and I don't want you to tell them too much. I want them to learn on their own."

"Oh. Alright, I'll meet them later I suppose."

Urahara smiled. "Excellent! I'll talk to you later then, Celestia."

"Likewise, say goodbye, Luna."

A new voice came out of the image of static. "Goodbye, Mr. Kisuke."

"Goodbye, Princess Luna." He removed his hand and smiled. "I hope you enjoy their company."

**(A.N. Thanks to everyone/pony that's been reading these. I would like to say I didn't expect this to get much attention, being the second Bleach/MLP crossover floating around. Also, I am trying to iron out a few things so this story will be posted to Equestria Daily. So here's hoping.)**


	9. The Hooves of Me and You

I do not own Bleach or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

**Chapter 8: The Hooves of Me and You**

The party ended as the sun began to set. Everypony exited Sugarcube Corner slowly, a good number of them yawning.

"Rarity never came." Twilight stated.

"Ooh!" Pinkie was still bouncing around despite the hours of partying. "Maybe she's began her seclusion as a crazy cat lady early!"

The violet unicorn shook her head and smiled. "She probably got caught up in which dress she was going to wear."

"Maybe we should head back to the Library." Rukia yawned.

Twilight nodded at the white unicorn-mare. "I agree, we could all use some rest after today."

Pinkie Pie smiled at the remaining ponies as they left the candy-cottage. "Okie Dokie Lokie. I'll see you tomorrow!"

Rainbow Dash began to fly up to her home in the clouds, but stopped and turned to Ichigo. "Hey, Strawberry, I'm going to be practicing tomorrow. You want to join?"

Ichigo didn't so much as tense at his adopted nickname, but answered in a tired tone. "What? Yeah, whatever."

Uryu glared at the orange-maned colt. "Ichigo!" He whispered angrily. "Don't tell me you fell for-"

"What?" Ichigo whispered back. "No way. I'm not as quick to fall for someone as Chad. Besides, it's just a little flight practice. Look at it like training back home."

The raven-maned unicorn continued to stare menacingly at his friend. "I still think we should stick together."

"Don't let your panties get in a wad." The tan pegasus retorted.

Rukia heard the two colts arguing and stepped in. "Besides, Uryu, if we split up, we can gather more information from more sources faster."

Uryu closed his eyes and pushed his glasses up with a hoof. "Fine."

"I'm glad I have your permission." Ichigo taunted his friend.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow, Strawberry. And you better bring your 'A' game!" She bolted into the evening sky, leaving a rainbow trail behind her.

"Hey, Chad, if yer not busy t'morra, Ah'd like to interduce ya to Big Macintosh back at the farm, and see if ya'll are as strong as ya look." Applejack suggested.

The large earth pony nodded. "Sounds good. Do you want me to walk you home, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy turned her head so her fine, pink mane would hide her red face. "Oh, that's not necessary. I can get home by myself."

"Are you sure?" Chad asked.

She opened her mouth to speak; a slight squeak escaped her lips, so she just nodded her head. Fluttershy extended her wings and floated away from the group without saying anything else.

"Welp, Ah better git back home, too. See ya'll t'morra!" Applejack trotted away.

The six remaining ponies continued their stroll back to the Library.

"I'm sorry I don't have any more spare beds." Twilight apologized as she opened the Library's front door.

"Oh, it's fine, really." Rukia smiled at the violet unicorn as she entered the tree-like building.

Once everypony was inside, Twilight willed the door shut with her magic. The main room was clean; definitely not in the state they left it earlier that day.

"Hey," a voice from a top the stairs shouted, "I cleaned up the mess you made."

Spike stood on the last step with his claws balled on his hips.

"We apologize for making a mess without cleaning." Uryu said.

"Yeah, yeah, just don't do it again." The small, purple dragon tried to sound menacing.

"Alright, everypony," Twilight interrupted, "let's get some sleep. Some of you have to be ready for tomorrow."

They all nodded. Orihime and Rukia claimed the extra cot again, as Ichigo and Uryu lied to either side and Chad found a spot at the foot of the bed. Twilight used her magic again, but this time to blow out the lanterns and candles in the chandelier. She trotted up the stairs to her room and fell asleep almost immediately once she curled up under her blanket on her bed.

…..

The following morning, everypony gathered in the main room of the Library. Ichigo left with Rainbow Dash around noon and Chad went with Applejack and Fluttershy a few minutes after, leaving Rukia, Uryu, and Orihime with Twilight and Spike.

"I think I'll go see what Pinkie's doing." Orihime smiled.

Twilight brought a hoof to her chin. "I think Pinkie has the day off today, so you won't be bothering her."

Orihime smiled. "Oh that's great! I'll see you guys later~!" She trotted out the door, leaving the entrance open.

"Forgive Orihime for her forgetfulness." Rukia strolled to the door and closed it.

"It's no problem." The violet unicorn smiled.

"If you ladies don't mind, I'd like to explore Ponyville a little more." Uryu stood from where he was laying down.

Twilight looked at the colt. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"That won't be necessary."

"Besides," Rukia walked in front of a large shelf-wall, "I'd like to look through some of your books, Twilight. See if I can learn anything here."

"Alright," Twilight sighed, though Rukia's mentioning of books visibly excited her, "but I'm sending Spike with you, Uryu. You're my guests, and I feel bad about leaving you alone."

"What? Twilight today was my day off." The baby dragon protested.

Twilight looked at Spike. "It still is, you just have to spend it with Uryu."

Spike crossed his arms and grunted.

"You know," Twilight's voice dripped with sarcasm, "you could take him to meet Rarity."

The small, purple dragon's eye widened before he coughed. "Fine, I guess I can go with him."

"Great! Now where do you want to start, Rukia?" Twilight smiled and trotted next to the snow white unicorn as Spike jumped onto Uryu's back.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Uryu shouted.

"What does it look like? I'm hitching a ride." Spike raised an eyebrow.

Uryu turned his head as far as possible to see his new passenger. "You should ask someone before jumping on their back!"

"Dude, calm down, I'll get off." Spike climbed back to the ground. "Happy?"

The white colt snorted angrily before he opened the door and walked outside, Spike right behind him closing the door.

**(A.N. Yep, it caught up to me. Updates from now on are probably going to be spaced further apart. I say probably because I might sit down and write for a few hours like before. I'm not very consistent, so to give a sense of consistency, I'm going to wait a week in between updates. Executive decision, sorry. It also doesn't help I'm writing other stories and editing a half-dozen videos.)**


	10. The State of Ponyville

I do not own Bleach or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

**Chapter 9: The State of Ponyville**

**Day 3: Rainbow Dash and Ichigo**

"Not bad, Strawberry!" Rainbow Dash shouted from a cloud.

Ichigo flew next to her. Clouds didn't seem like something either of them should be able to stand firmly on. He lowered himself slowly to test whether he'd fall through or not, but once his hooves met with a solid footing, his apprehensiveness disappeared.

"How many times do I have to tell you? My name's not 'Strawberry.'"

"I already told you, your other name's too hard to say, so you're Strawberry." She retorted. "You know, you don't act like most other pegasi I know. It's like you're completely new to flying, but at the same time, you can fly almost as fast as me."

Ichigo tensed. He didn't know if he should tell her about him or his friends. After all, Twilight and the princesses knew, and no one told him not to tell. Light-magenta eyes inspected him as he debated what he should tell her.

"It's hard to explain." He finally said.

"Whatever. If you can fly like that, you're okay by me." Rainbow slapped his shoulder with a hoof.

A low rumbling echoed across the sky.

"Hey! Have you ever flown through a lightning storm?" Rainbow's eyes showed a mix of excitement and sadism.

Ichigo shook his head.

She smiled wickedly. "Today's going to be your first time, then."

Rainbow bolted off of their cloud toward a dark mass in the distance. Ichigo watched her for a second before departing. The storm drew closer to them. She wouldn't have told him, but Rainbow knew there was going to be a lightning storm on the outskirts of Ponyville, being a weather pegasus had its benefits.

Their skin tingled as they flew through the tempest. Electricity sparked around them. The energy from the storm flowed into both of the pegasi, and each of them could feel it. A long streak of lightning shot out in front of them, and both of their heart rates increased with the sudden jolt of extra energy.

They burst out of the other side of the storm, glistening and rejuvenated. Rainbow led the way to another cloud not involved in the electric spectacle below her.

Ichigo set himself next to a sitting Rainbow Dash.

"You know what, Strawberry? I like having someone to fly with." She said with little more than a whisper.

He looked at her.

"Flying alone is fine, but I really like having somepony who can actually keep up with me. You're the first pony who's been able to do that."

Ichigo cringed at being directly called a 'pony,' it was a little too girly for his liking. He also didn't quite like where he thought the conversation was going.

"You're like my brother, or something. You know what I mean?"

Ichigo wiped his forehead inwardly; at least she didn't go where he expected her to.

"Yeah, Rainbow, I think I understand." He said. Ichigo shook his head, he was never this…soft back in his world.

"You can call me Dash if you want. I can see you don't like Rainbow."

He nodded. "Alright."

Rainbow shook her head and jumped onto her hooves. "Alright, no more breaks, Strawberry. Let's see if you can keep up with this!"

She took off so fast that a rainbow trail followed her. Ichigo followed her as best as he could. He hated losing, so twice to a hot-shot mare didn't sit well with him and he wasn't going to let it happen again. Not without a fight, at least.

They rounded clouds and dusted a forest, Ichigo trailing a few seconds behind Rainbow. Their routine seemed to take hours and Ichigo started to feel fatigue setting in.

"Damn. She's fast." He mumbled.

Rainbow led him in an upward spiral around a mountain. "He's not letting up."

The impromptu race thundered over Ponyville. Ichigo saw Pinkie Pie and Orihime bouncing around a tree in the park, but his concentration broke as his view of the two earth ponies flashed quickly beneath him.

He guessed another hour passed and neither of them let up in their unplanned contest. Ichigo's wings burned, but he pushed to stay behind Rainbow, who had increased her distance ahead of him over the course of the race.

Rainbow turned her head to see Ichigo. He was still trailing her, which surprised her. "Impressive." She could feel her wings get heavier and heavier as the race progressed, and her breathing had lost control sometime before. A nearby cloud caught her attention in the evening light. Rainbow smiled and altered her course for the object. She alighted herself on top of the cloud and hugged it.

Ichigo followed Rainbow onto the cloud she picked as the finish of the race.

"What was that?" He panted.

Rainbow gasped for air as well behind a grin. "Looks like: Rainbow, three; Strawberry, zero."

"Oh, come on!" Ichigo's exhaustion disappeared as anger took over. "That one doesn't count!"

She folded her wings into her sides. "Does so. Don't be a sore loser."

Ichigo planted a hoof onto her cheek. "'Sore loser?' You're being a sore winner!"

"Get off me, Strawberry!" Her muffled voice came in between her gasps as she laughed. "I'm trying to nap!"

"Why are you laughing?" He shouted and took his hoof away from her face.

"Because, it's so easy to make you mad!" Her voice cracked slightly as she continued to laugh at the tan colt.

Ichigo, now flustered, folded his wings in. "I hate losing."

Rainbow rolled onto her back so she could see Ichigo. Those words were the same she told Applejack before the Running of the Leaves. "It's alright, Strawberry, I won't count that one. Next time we race, it'll be fair."

He nodded. "Fine."

Rainbow maneuvered herself back onto her stomach, closed her eyes, and drifted into sleep. Ichigo walked slowly to the other side of the cloud and did the same; he decided to meet back up with his friends the next day.

…..

**Day 3: Applejack, Fluttershy, and Chad**

Applejack didn't stop talking the entire trip to Sweet Apple Acres. Fluttershy floated next to her friend and Chad strolled on the other side of the farm pony. Chad thought the Apple Family farm was surprisingly close to town as they reached the area in a few minutes. The land was blanketed by green trees, each of which was laden with apples.

"Welp, what d'ya think?" The orange earth pony grinned at Chad.

The brown colt only nodded in the direction of the massive orchard.

"No dilly dallyin' now. Big Macintosh's is plowin' the field 'round back."

Chad saw Fluttershy tense out of the corner of his eye.

Applejack nudged the timid pegasus before starting off again. "No need to worry, sugarcube. Mah brother ain't nothin' but a big puppy dog, and Ah'm sure he'd love ta see ya'll."

The other two followed behind Applejack, silence fell over them as the ocean of trees enclosed around the path that led to a stereotypically red barn. They rounded the building to reveal a brown landscape with a large red dot patrolling the grounds.

"Hey! Mac!" Applejack shouted and waved a hoof at the red colt pulling a plow through the dirt.

Macintosh undid the knot used to connect the plow to the yoke around his neck and casually strolled up to the three ponies. Fluttershy partially hid herself behind Applejack as the large farm colt approached them.

"What do ya need, AJ?" Big Mac asked.

From what Chad could tell, Big Macintosh was as tall as him and just as fit. The large yoke around his neck seemed to serve as a weight to tone the muscles along his neckline. The mark on Mac's flank showed a green apple with a bite taken out of the front, something Chad found strangely fitting for the large, red, earth colt.

"Ah wanted to intraduce ya ta Chad, here. He's new in town." Applejack raised her front hoof closest to Chad.

"Hello." Chad said.

"Hey." Big Mac answered.

They stared at each other. Applejack looked confusedly at the two colts. Finally, the two each raised a hoof and thrust them together as a greeting.

The red farm pony broke the silence. "Nice ta meetcha."

"Likewise."

Big Macintosh caught slight movement behind Chad. He turned to find Fluttershy staring at him from behind the new pony.

"H-hello, B-B-Big M-Macintosh." Fluttershy stuttered.

He nodded his head at her. "Fluttershy."

Her face flushed. Applejack looped a hoof through her front leg and pulled her into the open.

"Don't be shy now, sugarcube." Applejack smiled before her eyes suddenly popped open. "Ah just got an idea, why don't Ah show Chad how ta applebuck and you two stay here and start plantin'?"

"Oh, I don't know about that, Applejack." Fluttershy's cheeks were still red.

Something told Applejack that Macintosh was blushing too, but it was impossible to tell because of his bright red coat. The only indication was that his eyes were fully opened instead of half-closed, like usual.

"Are ya sure about this, AJ? I wouldn't want Fluttershy to git all dirty workin' for us." Big Mac calmly protested.

She ignored her brother and looked at the sky to give her a reason to leave before either Fluttershy or Macintosh could argue any further.

"Would ya look at the time? Gotta git ta applebuckin' 'fore night comes. We'll leave you two alone, now."

She pushed Chad in front of her so fast that Chad didn't have time to prepare himself.

"But Applejack!" Fluttershy and Big Mac shouted together.

They stopped and looked at each other, then turned away. Fluttershy blushed and Macintosh whistled around the wheat stalk in his mouth.

"So, uh," the stallion started, "how are ya?"

"F-fine." Fluttershy barely squeaked out the word.

Another awkward silence descended on them.

"How, um, how about you? Are you, um, okay?" She asked.

"Eeyup." He answered with his signature reply.

They stood next to each other quietly again, neither one breaking the silence until Big Mac took control of the conversation.

"Hey, Fluttershy, I need ta ask ya somethin'…."

…..

"Applejack, what are you doing?" Chad was still being pushed by the much smaller farm pony.

"Ah needed ta git those two alone. They have the hot's fer each other, but neither one'll admit it. Maybe if they spend some time alone, they'll figure things out." She explained.

Confused, Chad looked around and realized she was still pushing him. "Um, Applejack, you can stop now."

"What? Oh, right. Sorry 'bout that, sugarcube." Applejack stopped and wiped her forehead with a hoof. "Alright, time ta show ya'll 'bout applebuckin'."

Chad hesitated before speaking. "I thought that was just an excuse to get us away from Fluttershy and your brother."

"Nope," she shook her head, "I was serious 'bout showin' that."

Applejack trotted over to a nearby apple tree surrounded by empty wooden tubs and full with the ripe fruit. "Now, all ya need ta know is buck the tree with enough force," she grunted the last word as she forced her hind legs into the sturdy plant, "ta knock the apples down into the tubs. Got it?"

He nodded and hummed as he walked up to the tree next to the one Applejack just used as a demonstration. Chad turned so his rear legs were perpendicular to the tree. "Like this?"

"Yep, now just kick as hard as ya can."

Chad looked ahead and did as he was told. The impact cracked the tree vertically along the trunk, but that wasn't the worst of the damage. He kicked the plant with enough power to uproot it and cause it to fall. Apples were thrown all around the two ponies as the kick created a backlash, sending fruit not only behind Chad, but also in front of him. The surrounding earth quaked with the impact.

"Ya'll just-just kicked the tree down." Applejack whispered.

"Sorry."

Applejack stared at Chad. "Ah've never seen somepony strong enough to buck a tree over."

"Sorry." Chad repeated as flatly as the first time.

"Maybe ya'll aren't applebuckin' material. Ah don't need all mah trees kicked down." She said.

Chad nodded and looked at the toppled tree. "Um, what should we do about that?"

Applejack investigated the chaos. "If ya could help me replant it, that'd be greatly appreciated."

The large, brown colt nodded and stepped next to the fallen plant. He placed a massive hoof on the bottom of the tree and pressed down. Chad pushed hard enough to raise the tree straight up again and back into the hole where it stood before. Taking its previous home, the tree stood like nothing had happened.

"It's a little rough, but it'll have to do." Applejack sighed as she fixed some dirt to surround the base of the tree. "How 'bout we git something to drink?"

"Okay." Chad's voice rumbled.


End file.
